After a grueling match on LAN by these illustrious list of ESports teams, fans of DOTA 2 and Valorant were treated to a lovely finals at Robinsons Galleria in Cebu for the Predator League 2025 Philippine Finals. Despite the hectic schedule and some inexperience of some teams in a faster environment, they managed to play with high level teams and win 250,000 pesos as champions of the Asia Pacific Predator League 2025 Grand Finals. They've got a 1 Million peso pot to share after all.
DOTA 2 was quite exciting for teams Execration and Ivory, but in the end, the experience that Execration had made it an overwhelming affair on the map. Kill rates were at 7.5, and assists were at 10.5, so imagine how much time they spent in it. For Valorant, DLSU's Valorant Esports tried to take a jab at ZOL ESports, but they got swept 2 games. This means Execration, Ivory and ZOL Esports will fly for the championships in KL next year. Team Secret will also be there to play for the country, something like an honorary invite for a top tier team that plays on the world stage.
If you want more updates about these ESports teams, make sure you follow their social channels because they'll be posting more of these in the coming months. January will be very busy.
Popular PPOP Girl Group G22 took the stage to perform Predator League's "It Lies Within" theme at the finals in Cebu City. They are after all Acer ambassadors and from the looks of it, AJ, Alfea and Jaz were ecstatic in performing the single at Robinsons Galleria in Cebu. They did this in the Manila leg a couple months back, but this resonates with different regions because they did it in different languages too in different countries. Acer's Senior Marketing Manger Princess Laosantos was happy about the song as it captures what ESports players feel, like the rush to achieve greatness in the sport.
For those who don't know, the Predator League is a yearly competition that aims to find the best of the best in game titles here in the Asia Pacific region. It's a great avenue to start your ESports career, sort of a grassroots level discovery for this huge industry. The Grand Finals will happen in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, and they've got USD 400,000 prize for the winners. The Philippines will be represented by Execration, Ivory for DOTA 2, while ZOL Esports and Team Secret will be doing their skirmishes in Valorant. The single "It Lies Within" by G22 will be available on streaming platforms, go listen to it now. You can visit their social channels and acer.com if you want to know more about the tournament and its results.
Just got out of the cinema after the premiere night of GG (Good Game), the movie starring Donny Pangilinan. It's a film about eSports, but right off the bat they made the presence of drama felt in this movie by Director Prime Cruz. The film also stars his Mom Ms. Maricel Laxa, Baron Geisler, Johannes Isler, Igi Boy Flores, Gold Aceron and a throng of gaming and streaming personalities too.
To tell you honestly, I was looking forward to see this during the Metro Manila Film Festival but fate had other plans. Now that it's going to be released this January 24th, but something tells me it is going to be big because a LOT folks were at the rails of SM Megamall's Cinema 2 when I arrived, I was even early in fact. For me, that was the measure for how excited folks are (and hopefully translate to box office success) and I think with Star Cinema distributing this particular movie in the country, they'll be successful putting this in around 198 cinemas today (if I heard it right during Donny's interview).
The movie will start to get you to think about the dynamics of the family, and the pressures of studies, the expectations of some, and spending time for passion. The film has excellent production value, they got Metasports create "Requiem", a 5x5 FPS game for the PC.
The color grading, the stitching of the plot, and the reveal of the twists, was given a lot of time to mature before letting it all out. Can't say much, but one thing for sure happened during the screening... I felt the urge to say that the apple certainly doesn't fall far from the tree. This is certainly an acting challenge for Donny, and having Ms. Maricel Laxa as his Mom in the film must have certain expectations (for most people, to be on the level of his Mom). He didn't disappoint, because from where I was sitting in the balcony, there were several people already crying from simply understanding the trials they were going through. Boy had so much emotions bottled up especially towards the end of the film.
They made this for a whole year, so you could see how it wasn't rushed post prod. I've seen films joining festivals in the past that felt clumsy, unfinished, and had so much loose ends. They don't have that, and I hope you see how a LOT of people worked tirelessly to put these together despite being an indie film... and how they did production work personally to make sure you get your money's worth when it hits cinemas.
Here's a glimpse of the red carpet premiere, please enjoy!
I've played a lot of games, I'm sure some of you do too. You don't even have to be a gamer to understand the film, because yes, it breathes family, love and camaraderie. It's best to bring family, friends and peers to get your movie fix. Watch GG (Good Game) The Movie, out now on theaters!
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